Disney Read-Along
Disney Read-Alongs are a series of illustrated books for children with accompanying recordings of the books being read. The first Read-Alongs, book-and-record sets, were released in 1965 by Disneyland Records (now Walt Disney Records); several hundred titles have been produced. The books were typically adaptations of popular Disney movies, cartoons, and other stories, running 24 pages. Sometimes there would be adaptations of non-Disney stories (such as generic fairy tale adaptations, or even certain non-Disney properties), stories based on Disneyland theme park attractions, and original stories featuring Disney's characters. A narrator (or in some titles, a character from the story in first-person) read the story, and dialogue and songs from the original source were included. The sound of Tinker Bell's chimes was the signal for the reader to turn the page. Until 1991, the books always contained the tagline "SEE the pictures, HEAR the story/record/tape, READ the book." The first editions typically had this introduction: * "This is a Walt Disney/Disneyland original Little Long-Playing Record, and I am your story reader. I am going to begin now to read the story of title here. You can read along with me in your book. You will know it's time to turn the page when Tinker Bell rings her little bells like this: (sound of 'chimes' ringing). Let's begin now." In most cases, the narrator was Robie Lester on 1965-1971 titles, and Lois "Lane" Wilkinson on 1970-1974 titles. Meanwhile, the second editions (released beginning in 1976), and new titles released thereafter (beginning with the Little Golden Book and Record/Cassette sets), typically had this introduction (since the second editions were also released on cassette), and still do to this day: * "This is the story of title here. You can read along with me in your book. You will know it is time to turn the page when you hear the chimes ring like this: (sound of chimes ringing). Let's begin now." (Note: Both editions of Peter and the Wolf did not include a chimes ring and thus that part of the introduction was skipped.) Occasional titles have different intros, either by real people or characters. Some titles also had different signals for turning the page (particularly the Little Golden Book read-alongs), but most were presented in this manner. Also the way the story was presented differed from the first and second editions. In the former, the story was usually presented in its entirety on side 1 (on some shorter ones, the story was read twice), with one or two songs related to the story on side 2. In the latter, the story was spread out across both sides of the record with the related song(s) usually playing after the story was finished, but on some mid-to-late 1970s titles the song(s) would be incorporated into the story. A handful of early read-along titles also had the story spread onto both sides of the record, but the norm was the entire story being on side 1. The first editions also had no character voices, music or sound effects accompanying the story; the sole exception was Peter and the Wolf, integrating its music score into the story and backing Robie Lester's narration. Beginning with the Little Golden Book read-alongs, nearly all new releases would include additional character voices alongside the narrator, as well as sound effects and background music. (Some titles of existing Disney films would use the music directly from the film; others would remake it or use similar-sounding scores. By the mid-1980s, Disney had put together a library of multi-purpose stock music cues arranged and compiled by Gary Powell to use in several read-alongs that did not use actual film scores, that are still used on certain new read-along titles to this day.) Such voice cast members heard on the late 1970s and early 1980s read-alongs included Hal Smith, Patricia Parris, Tony Pope, Corey Burton, Tress MacNeille, Les Perkins, Linda Gary, Laurie Main and Bob Holt. A curious exception was the 1977 reissue of the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs read-along, which did not re-record the story's narration and voices, but simply reused Robie Lester's narration of the 1966 original, with music and sound effects added. Additionally, the 1970 read-along of The Night Before Christmas stayed as-is on the record version, but was also released on cassette in 1977, retaining Lois Lane's original narration (with the opening modified a bit to remove referencing the title as a record), making it the only "original"-style read-along to also be released on cassette in addition to record. In 1976, Disney started releasing Read-Along titles on cassette in addition to the versions on records. The cassette versions usually had the story in its entirety, plus the songs (if applicable) on both sides making it unnecessary to turn the cassette over to listen to the rest of the story. As such, the sides were not designated. The cassette versions were based on the second editions. * "That was the end of the story. If you would like to hear it again, turn the tape over." (1976–88) * "That was the end of the story. If you would like to hear it again, just turn the tape over." (1988–97) The last cassette to use the end message is that of Hercules. Starting in 1979, Disneyland Records also released "Take a Tape Along" sets that included several read-alongs on cassette; each tape having a different story on each side (rather than the same story being on both sides of the cassette.) Originally, the Disney read-along records were pressed with plain green labels with black lettering. In 1976, the records began being pressed with the yellow "rainbow" labels seen on all of their LP albums beginning at that point. The cassette tapes were normally red with a white label, though some of the Golden read-along cassettes were yellow. Beginning in the late 1980s, white cassette tapes were utilized, and then they began to be made in a magenta color in the early 1990s. Beginning in 1976, Disneyland Records also began producing read-along adaptations of Little Golden Book titles, released simultaneously on record and cassette. These were usually touted on the cover as "A Little Golden Book & Record/Cassette," and each story would have a new song or two written (and sometimes performed) by Larry Groce. In 1983, Disney and Golden teamed up again to produce four read-along versions of Mercer Mayer's Little Critter stories. These usually had two songs each after the story, written by Michael and Patty Silversher and/or Larry Groce. Though not exactly traditional read-alongs, in the early 1980s Disneyland Records also began releasing "Disney Songtape and Book" sets, which consisted of one of their existing LP albums on audio cassette, and an accompanying 24-page read-along book containing the lyrics to the songs. The tagline on the back of these was: "SEE the pictures, HEAR the tape, READ the book, SING!" In the mid-1980s, Fisher-Price also distributed some of Disney's generic fairy tale read-alongs, along with Mother Goose Rhymes, under their own line of "Fisher Price Classics" read-along records and cassettes. Additionally, Disneyland Records and Fisher-Price co-produced read-along cassette adaptations of some of the Disney's Wonderful World of Reading books in 1981, along with comic book adaptations of some of their animated features. From 1984 to 1987, Disneyland/Vista Records produced read-alongs in the "Disney Discovery Series," teaching such subjects as counting, manners, the alphabet, colors and shapes, different jobs and modes of transportation, the seasons, telling time, and safety tips. These were generally narrated by Laurie Main, William Woodson, Linda Gary, and sometimes Tony Pope (in character as Goofy), and often told in rhyme. They featured various characters from numerous Disney animated features and shorts of the time, and would conclude with a song or two relating to the story (typically performed by Larry Groce, often coming from the older Little Golden Book read-alongs or from the Children's Favorites series of albums.) In 1987, Disneyland/Vista Records discontinued all vinyl read-alongs, and as a result, many pre-1976 titles that were still available (and had not been redone as "second editions" in the late 70s and early 80s) went out of print. An exception was several of the generic fairy tale adaptations (such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Hansel and Gretel,'' Little Red Riding Hood'', and The Gingerbread Man) that were reissued as cassette editions under the "Disney Presents Your Favorite Fairy Tales" banner, with new cover artwork and new songs and narration on the cassettes (by Marvin Kaplan). These read-alongs did not have any character voices, similar to the 1965-1974 read-alongs, but had background music and sound effects accompanying them, and each story began with an original song, "I Wish I Was Magic." Titles * Mickey and the Beanstalk (1970) * Mother Goose Rhymes (1979) * Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) * Mickey's Tattered Tale (1988) * Donald's Pooch Parlor (1988) * The Prince and the Pauper (1991) * Woo-oo! (2018) * Mickey Mouse: The Scariest Halloween Story Ever! (2018) Category:Book series/collections